laird ##s of norway ' kept their papa st ##our estates until the 17th century . in the 16th century merchants from bremen and hamburg were operating a summer trading booth to buy fish from the local fleet . by the 18th century , two scottish laird ##s , thomas gifford of bust ##a , and arthur nico ##lson of le ##r ##wick , owned the island . they maintained a prosperous ha ##af ( old norse : ' deep sea ' ) fishing industry , undertaken in the summer months using six @ - @ o ##are ##d boats known as six ##are ##ens . in addition to the le ##per colony on br ##ei holm there may have been another at hill ##a fi ##elle overlooking
lairds of norway'kept their papa stour estates until the 17th century. in the 16th century merchants from bremen and hamburg were operating a summer trading booth to buy fish from the local fleet. by the 18th century, two scottish lairds, thomas gifford of busta, and arthur nicolson of lerwick, owned the island. they maintained a prosperous haaf ( old norse :'deep sea') fishing industry, undertaken in the summer months using six @ - @ oared boats known as sixareens. in addition to the leper colony on brei holm there may have been another at hilla fielle overlooking